1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cassette housing for a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus and a method for manufacturing the same, and more particularly to a pivotable cassette housing including a pivotable bracket in a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Referring to FIGS. 10A and 10B, there is illustrated a conventional pivotable cassette housing for a camcorder employing a slide loading system, which comprises a cassette holder and a pivotable bracket.
The bracket, which is denoted by the reference numeral 50, is of a rectangular construction comprising a pair of side wall members 51 and a pair of connecting members 52 and 53 for connecting the side wall members 51 with each other. The connecting member 52 has a plate shape, whereas the connecting member 53 has a rod shape. In the bracket 50, the cassette holder for receiving a tape cassette is mounted. The cassette housing 50 is pivotally mounted at one end thereof to a base plate of a deck. Above the base plate, a slide base is arranged, which is adapted to feed a tape supplied from the tape cassette to a head drum in the deck.
Now, operation of the cassette housing with the above-mentioned construction will be described.
When the cassette housing is positioned at its opened position, the tape cassette is inserted into a space defined between the bracket and the cassette holder. As the cassette housing in which the tape cassette has been received is positioned at its closed position, by pushing it down, using the user's fingers, a lock lever mounted to the cassette housing is engaged with a lock pin attached to the base plate. At this time, the slide base moves toward the head drum so that the tape supplied from the tape cassette is fed to a desired position.
On the other hand, when the tape cassette is to be ejected from the cassette housing after all mode operations in the deck are completed, the slide base is retracted from the head drum. Thereafter, the lock lever is disengaged from the lock pin, by an operation of an eject switch. When the lock lever is disengaged from the lock pin, the cassette housing pivots by a force of a spring mounted to a pivot pin for the cassette housing and returns to its opened position enabling the ejection of the tape cassette.
The bracket 50 may be constructed by a single plate member. However, since the bracket 50 should have a thin construction, it has been conventionally constructed by several separate members such as the side wall members 51, the connecting plate 52 and the connecting rod 53.
The side wall members 51 of bracket 50 are formed by pressing a metal thin plate. The connecting plate 52 and connecting rod 53 are formed by using a material thicker than the metal plate of side wall members 51. After preparing the constituting elements of bracket 50, as mentioned above, the side wall members 51 are connected with each other, by using the connecting plate 52 and the connecting rod 53, so as to produce the bracket 50. The connecting rod 53 is positioned above the head drum at the closed position of the cassette housing. Accordingly, the connecting rod 53 is mounted so that it is positioned at a level higher than that of the connecting plate 52, so as not to come into contact with the head drum when the cassette housing is closed.
In the prior art, since the constituting elements are individually formed and assembled together to construct the bracket, the overall processes for fabricating the bracket become complex. As a result, there are disadvantage of a decrease in productivity and an increase in manufacture cost.
Furthermore, the total height of deck is large, due to the requirement that the connecting rod 53 is positioned at a level higher than that of the connecting plate 52, so as not to come into contact with the head drum when the cassette housing is closed. As a result, it is impossible to achieve a compactness of deck.